Chapter 25 - Max

After making a big stink about leaving and getting home to Brooke, I barely staggered to the door before realizing my head was swimming, and my eyes were blurry. How many shots had we knocked back while discussing how to move forward with this new threat? Too many, obviously, and it would have taken just as long to call a driver to come get me than to just take a quick nap on Dima’s couch.

The suite was pitch black when I woke up, and I swore as I discovered it was nearly midnight. My little nap to sober up had turned into six hours of sleep. At least now I was safe to drive, and not only starving, but anxious to see Brooke. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to let her in on the news and risk frightening her, but it wasn’t something I’d have to worry about until morning because she was sure to be asleep when I got home.

Surprisingly, she was awake, not curled up in her favorite spot on the big leather sofa with a book, but sitting at the kitchen table with a thousand-yard stare. She jolted out of it when she heard my footsteps on the marble and let loose with a string of curses. All aimed at me.

Jumping out of her seat, she hurried over and grabbed my face in both hands, making me wince when her thumb dug into my bruised jaw. My shoulder still throbbed from taking the unexpected hit from the baseball bat and I let out a small groan when she tugged me closer to her level.

“What’s this? Why are you making that sound?” she asked, dropping her hands to run them down my arms. “Are you hurt?”

“Not much,” I said. “I forgot all about it until you grabbed my face.”

She scowled. “Forgot about what? Was it another attack?”

“It’s over,” I said. “Now, why are you still awake at this hour, and looking so forlorn?”

“Because of you!” she snapped, shocking the hell out of me.

What had I done to make her this upset when I wasn’t even home to antagonize her? This wasn’t her normal anger, either, but something different. Wait a minute…

“Were you worried about me?” I asked.

She immediately noticed the teasing tone in my voice, and her eyes flared, but I switched gears and clutched my shoulder, groaning louder this time.

“Oh my God, do you think it might be dislocated?” she asked.

“Just bruised,” I said, leaning toward her. “It was a surprise hit with a bat.”

She pulled my good arm over her shoulders and did her level best to help me upstairs, tutting about my profession. “I guess you’re probably lucky it was just a bat.”

“Well, explosives are a bit messy in a populated area,” I said, getting a slight jab in the ribs. I faked a gasp of pain that had her apologizing.

“Did you get hit there, too?”

“Yeah, just now. By you,” I joked.

She all but tossed me onto the bed once we were in our room and glared down at me. “You should have all those guards of yours do the fighting.”

“Then they’d get the reputation of being a badass, not me,” I said reasonably.

Trying desperately not to smile, she fluffed the pillows under my head with a bit more tenderness, then went to find an ice pack for my face.

“You have to stop being so manly,” she said, pressing it gently against my jaw and shaking her head. “I can see it’s going to be purple tomorrow.”

“What changed?” I asked, marveling at this new wife of mine, sitting beside me and holding ice to my bruise as worry creased her brow.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snipped, but her cheeks started to get red.

“Oh, come on,” I laughed. “You don’t really think you’ve been the perfect little wife all this time? You tried to slap me just last night.”

Leaning back, the ice pack fell from her fingers. Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut and enjoy the ride while it lasted? Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Because of you, I’m out of a very good job I actually loved. I haven’t spoken to anyone you don’t employ for a month. I can’t leave the house except to swim, and even then, I have Pavel hovering on the sand, watching my every move. And my scholarship is at risk if I don’t get back to classes when they start. So, yeah. Sometimes I want to slap you.”

I wasn’t expecting all that, and I would have preferred the smack. Nice and easy and wouldn’t make me think too much. Brooke made it sound like I was ruining her life, when all I was trying to do was save it. I opened my mouth, but it was as if she read my mind and held up her hand.

“And no, saving me doesn’t negate the fact I’m going to lose everything I worked for.”

Placing the ice pack on the bedside table, I sat up, propping the pillows behind me to give me a chance to think. An opportunity to try to see things from her perspective and not be so blinded by my main objective, which was to keep her safe at all costs.

“Can you take classes online?” I asked.

It meant giving her internet access, but that was a bridge I’d have to cross later. Now all I wanted was to erase that pain in her eyes. I wanted to give her everything, and she viewed me as only taking and destroying what she already had.

“No, I cannot, and that’s not what I want anyway. I need to get feedback from other students, speak to my professors, make contacts that can help me to…” she trailed off, biting her lip.

I carefully took her hand. It was a good sign she didn’t jerk away and I gave her fingers a soft squeeze. “Help you to do what?” I asked. “Tell me what your dream is, Brooke.”

With a deep sigh, she admitted she hadn’t chosen a major yet. “I’m interested in so many things,” she said. “One day, I think I might enjoy teaching kids, but then I get caught up in the idea of running a business. I loved the ordering process at the shop, but I love psychology too.”

Her eyes were far away as she listed all the possibilities ahead of her, if only I stopped interfering. My path had been laid out for me from the moment I was born, and I never questioned it, always going full steam ahead.

“Whatever you choose, I’m certain you’ll excel at it,” I said. Her head whipped up to focus on me, and I shrugged. “Let me think it over.” The look of happiness and hope on her face nearly knocked me back into the pillows, and I pulled her close.

“I don’t want to hurt your shoulder,” she said, trying to move.

I only held on tight. “You couldn’t hurt me if you tried,” I said, grinning when she balled up her fist. “And I don’t mind when you try.”

Softening against me, she got the covers over us and we settled together in the light of the bedside lamp. I was still a bit hungover and tired, so I was happy to let her snuggle up next to me as we talked about everything and nothing. Just idle chat, comfortable and warm.

This is what I’d been hoping for and I wanted to hold on with both hands and my toes, too. Maybe my dream of us becoming a normal couple was finally coming true.